The First Trade

Noah wakes up on his hospital bed; time had flown by, and it was already evening. Noah sat upright, looked to his right, and next to his pillow was his headgear.

He picked it up, staring at the helmet's glass casing. It reflected back, allowing him to see his purple eyes. Noah recounted all he had learned.

"Places to hunt, the techniques used by the other players, and the fighting stances based on the weapon they were using. I have gathered all that I need; it's time to log back in."

He wore back his headgear and laid back on his bed. Everything was set.

Appearing back in the tutorial village, Reed noticed he had lost half his items. The only items in his possession were his common-grade healer staff and his white healer's robe. He had lost his staff to his previous battle.

Such were the consequences of the death penalty, but it didn't matter anyways. Reed had planned to sell both of them, and losing one didn't mean he couldn't sell the other.

Walking on the flat, dusty ground, he made his way to a clothing store using the map. He reached the front of the clothing store.

Upfront, the owner had a showcase displaying his finest works. Reed, seeing that, immediately knew this was the place and entered the store.

Inside the store, Reed passed all the fancy pieces of equipment he saw and went straight to the counter. The store owner, standing behind the counter, a man named Quinn, greeted him and asked if he was here to buy something.

"No, in fact, I was hoping you wouldn't mind buying from me," Reed said, placing his leather robe on the top of the counter.

Quinn picked it up and inspected the fabric, checking the texture if it was genuine. "Oh my, this is quite the specimen you have brought. So, how much would you like to sell it for, my good Sir?"

Reed was caught off guard. He didn't know what price would suit it best. In the game of Arcane, there were three major currencies: copper, silver, and gold.

Normally, a common-grade item shouldn't sell for more than twelve copper coins, twenty at the maximum. But from the way Quinn acted, Reed was thinking this piece of clothing was even more valuable than he expected.

If he priced it too low, he would end up losing money. But then again, if he priced it too high, Quinn might not want to buy, and he desperately needed money to go about his plans. It was truly a brilliant marketing strategy.

"What will it be, Sir?" Quinn asked, calmly placing his palm on the table. Reed smirked; he turned his gaze to look at Quinn's. "That robe, you see, isn't your average 'healer's' robe you find in the market."

"Oh my, tell me more," Quinn said, listening to what Reed had to say. "I will tell you all there is to know about it once you buy it. It's priced at fifty coppers," Reed stated, awaiting Quinn's opinion.

"Wow, such a cheap price for such high-quality leather. Very well then, here you go," Quinn gave Reed the fifty coppers. Reed thanked him, but Quinn insisted, saying the pleasure was all his.

Reed walked out of the clothing store with his first game income. The amount he had was equal to having twenty-five dollars in the real world.

Now that he was done with the clothing store, next up was the blacksmith's store, a place with the most valuable items in the entire village.

On getting there, he met the blacksmith arguing with another player in front of his shop. The blacksmith tossed his armor and other pieces of equipment out of his store and shut his door.

Reed saw the player and coldly walked past him. He wasn't ready to get involved with anyone, especially someone who would offend a blacksmith.

In his eyes, he didn't care; no one else mattered anymore except for him. He opened the door and entered the blacksmith's shop. He laid eyes on the beautiful swords and shields hanging around in an organized manner, well crafted with the finest materials you could find in the tutorial village.

It was truly remarkable; one could easily tell these weapons were properly taken care of. Reed glanced towards the counter where the grumpy blacksmith named Bron stood grumpily.

"What do you want?" Bron muttered, resting his face on his right hand.

"Nothing much, I simply wish to buy a weapon," Reed requested.

"If that's it, then come some other time. I'm not in the mood to handle customers," Bron replied, leaving the counter and walking into the compartments of his store.

"Please wait," Reed yelled.

"What is it?" Bron stopped, turning back to look at him. "It seems you are in a bad mood. I don't mean to be a bother, but is something the matter?" Reed asked, understanding that if he didn't intervene, it would only waste more of his precious time.

"Ugh, it's that idiot. He keeps bringing that rusty piece of metal into my store, ordering me to fix the damn thing. I told him the durability is already empty, but he didn't listen and called me a terrible blacksmith. So I tossed the piece of trash out of my store and told the bastard to leave."

Reed sighed, knowing it was time for him to play along. "Ugh, tell me about it. Guys like him are the worst, too dumb to even understand common sense. Don't let it get to you."

Bron sighed. "Yeah, you're right. You can't always please everybody. So, what would you like to buy?"

"Hmm, That dagger over there, how much is it," Reed pointed to a black metal dagger with a silver crystal at the center, gently placed in one of the showcases, one of the true beauties of the blacksmith's shop.

"Wow, you have quite the good eyes. That's Kuro, one of my finest works. That would cost you two silvers," Bron the blacksmith said, folding his hands.

Reed was not surprised; he could obviously tell that it was a fine weapon but shockingly well over his budget. Still, he needed something durable that could help him take down monsters.

He glanced around the shop, looking for something cheap, until his eyes came across a barrel stocked filled with weapons.

He walked over there, placed his hand inside, and pulled out a dagger. The dagger was brown and rusty but had runes inscribed on it.

"Here, I would like to buy this weapon," Reed said as he placed it on the counter. Bron stared at the weapon and looked back at him. "Are you sure you want this weapon?"